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In this paper we describe how explicit models of software or knowledge engineering processes can be used to guide and control the distributed development of complex systems. The paper focuses on techniques which automatically infer dependencies between decisions from a process model and methods which allow to integrate planning and execution steps. Managing dependencies between decisions is a basis for improving the traceability of develop- ment processes. Switching between planning and execution of subprocesses is an inherent need in the development of complex systems. The paper concludes with a description of the CoMo-Kit system which implements the technolo- gies mentioned above and which uses WWW technology to coordinate development processes. An on-line demonstration of the system can be found via the CoMo-Kit homepage:

Representations of activities dealing with the development or maintenance of software are called software process models. Process models allow for communication, reasoning, guidance, improvement, and automation. Two approaches for building, instantiating, and managing processes, namely CoMo-Kit and MVP-E, are combined to build a more powerful one. CoMo-Kit is based on AI/KE technology; it was developed for supporting complex design processes and is not specialized to software development processes. MVP-E is a process-sensitive software engineering environment for modeling and analyzing software development processes, and guides software developers. Additionally, it provides services to establish and run measurement programmes in software organizations. Because both approaches were developed completely independently major integration efforts are to be made to combine their both advantages. This paper concentrates on the resulting language concepts and their operationalization necessary for building automated process support.